e
Yesterday's excursion to the slopes was so exhausting for me and Kheng, the greenhorns, that we decided a lunch at a winery was all we could manage today.

Heh. Ember treated to lunch at the Amisfield, where we had a hearty repast of ham off the bone, chicken pot roast with puy lentils and pancetta (so good!!!), linguine with grilled prawns and pork belly with fennel with a most satisfyingly crunchy crackling, washed down with sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and riesling. It was a most lovely location of course, with a view of Lake Hayes, and like every restaurant we've been to in Queenstown, and a roaring fire (this one had two fireplaces!) .

What could we manage after lunch but a leisurely drive through Arrowtown, over the the Kawarau bridge (where you can do a 43m bungy jump), into Cromwell, and finally Deer Park Heights, where there were more gorgeous views, animals to eat out of your hand (I petted a bison!!!) such as thar and lamas and miniature horses and goats... and LOTR locations. This picture was taken somewhere on the heights. It overlooks Lake Wakatipu, with Queenstown to the far right. I like the gloomy light. This landscape makes me think of Scotland; it has the same kind of heather on the windswept hills... As we drove up into town we could see the lights twinkling on Coronet Peak for night skiing. They looked so much like bright jewels on cake frosting, like Christmas!

Dinner was Thai, at a place called @Thai. We chatted with a friendly Kiwi couple, who are stopping over in Singapore in December. We bonded over the rice they brought us, which had been pressed from teddy bear molds, and we were each thinking of creative ways to kill our rice bears... The waitress asked if we were Thai, and said we were ordering just like Thai people. I wonder what that meant!